


Everyone Else's Man

by SeverusSnep



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ambiguity, Angst, F/M, Hallucinations, Hurt, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Post-War, Song: Girl (Tori Amos), St Mungo's Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26527699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeverusSnep/pseuds/SeverusSnep
Summary: Hermione visits Severus at St. Mungo's nearly every day, and he seems to be getting better. If only she could figure out if he was still himself.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	Everyone Else's Man

Severus sits down at the table. Hermione was waiting for him as she usually does.

“How was your day?” She asks.

“The usual,” He stares at her intently.

“Tell me about it.”

“Called from one shadow to the next,” he repeats as usual.

“So you’ve said… every week. And what are you doing?”

“Finding my way, I suppose.”

He still clutches that faded photograph. Hermione can see the same image under his thumb.

“What is that?” She gestures toward it, hoping this time she'll get a new answer.

“A message for my heart,” he responds dryly. The same answer. One of these weeks he’ll tell her, when he’s ready.

_He’s been everybody else’s man_ , she thinks, _maybe one day he’ll be his own_. 

“Where have they been lately?” She continues. She has to ask him every time, she has to make sure that the hallucinations haven’t gotten worse. Who knows what they’ll do to him then.

“They stay in the doorway, laughing as violins fill with water,” he responds. It’s the same, they’ve been making progress but he still sees them. She knows he’s not crazy, but the Healers seem to treat him like he is.

“Can you make them go away?” She tries.

“Screams from the bluebells can’t make them go away,” He answers. That was new.

“Have they hurt you, or tried?” She hopes the treatment will start to help soon.

“Well, I’m not seventeen, but I’ve cuts on my knees,” He supplies. She wonders what exactly he means by that. Fear then rises in her throat, is he hurt?

“Are you hurt? How did that happen?” _One question at a time_ , she reminds herself. He is fragile. She has to stay calm for him.

“Falling down,” He answers, his eyes still focused on hers.

“How?” She didn’t think him to be clumsy.

“As the winter takes one more cherry tree.” He’d become even more cryptic in this state. It started a few months ago, right after he had made a full recovery from the snake bite. Madam Pomfrey said he'd simply lost the plot. Hermione was the only one to whom he’ll talk. She made the trip to Mungo’s almost every day just to see him. The words repeated themselves in her head. _He’s been everybody else’s man, maybe one day he’ll be his own_. 

Each night when she goes to bed she dreams of him in the mist. The castle is still burning in her heart. She holds on tightly to the sheets as she twists around in them. Each morning she goes into work wondering _why_? 

* * *

“Sit in the chair and be good now,” she hears a Healer tell him. _And become all that they’ve told you_ , she thinks. They let her into his room and he stands immediately to greet her. He looks tired, but hopeful.

“Severus,” she smiles. He goes to walk toward her and she opens her arms to him. He feels small in her arms, like a scared child. _What have they done to him_? The white coats enter his room, pulling him away from her. They grab at him harshly as he tries to stand.

“Severus!” She calls, “don’t hurt him! He didn’t do anything!” The tears well up in her eyes and she runs out of the room. Someone tries to stop her but she pushes them away. She rushes out of the building with Healers yelling to her. She doesn't care, she Apparates home. She has to get him out of there.

With the day still running through her head, she decides to take a bath. As she slips out of her clothes, a piece of paper falls to the floor. She picks it up and sees his handwriting,

“ _Everybody else’s man,_

_maybe one day I’ll be my own._

_Everybody else’s man,_

_maybe one day I’ll be my own._

_Everybody else’s man,_

_maybe one day I’ll be my own_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Let me know if you want a second part to this👀 I hope you get a chance to listen to the song! :)


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